Of Hitler And Camille Pissarro: Jurisdiction In Nazi Art Expropriation Cases Under The Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act

In November 1938, Walter Westfield, a renowned Jewish art dealer in Germany, was arrested, beaten, and imprisoned by the Nazis for an alleged violation of currency exchange laws.1 The true purpose of the arrest was to seize Westfield’s art collection for private resale, “a typical practice of the Nazi government.”2 On December 12 and 13 of the following year, a portion of Westfield’s art collection was seized and auctioned off through an order of the District Attorney’s Office Dusseldorf.3 In 1943, three years after Westfield was fined for the alleged violation and later sent to the Auschwitz death camp and “exterminated,” the Nazi government sold other works from his art collection.

Phytochemical investigation and antimicrobial, antifungal and synergistic activities of chloroform fractions of the root of Ferula szovitsiana

زمینه و هدف: گیاه کمای بیابانی (Ferula szowitsiana) متعلق به خانواده چتریان و از گیاهان دارویی بومی ایران و آسیای مرکزی می‌باشد. صمغ حاصل از ریشه گیاهان جنس کما در درمان بیماری های گوارشی و روماتیسم کاربرد دارد. این مطالعه با هدف بررسی اثرات فراکسیون های عصاره کلرفرمی ریشه گیاه کمای بیابانی طراحی و اجرا شده است. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه تجربی اثرات ضد باکتریایی، ضد قارچی و هم افزایی عصاره‌ی کلروفرمی و فراکسیون های فعال ریشه (CEF1-CEF15) بر روی برخی باکتری‌های گرم مثبت و گرم منفی و قارچ های کاندیدا کفیر و کریپتوکوکوس نئوفورمانس (غلظت‌های 2/0 تا 4 میلی‌گرم بر میلی‌لیتر و با مضرب 2) با روش انتشار در آگار و تعیین حداقل غلظت مهارکنندگی بررسی گردید. یافته‌ها: نتایج نشان داد که عصاره‌ و اجزای مختلف آن ، اثرات ضد میکروبی قابل ملاحظه‌ای بر روی میکروارگانیسم‌های مورد آزمون دارند. میانگین قطر هاله‌های عدم رشد بین 7 تا 23 میلی متر برای اجزای مختلف عصاره ثبت شد. عمده‌ترین اثر ضد میکروبی از 15 جزء حاصله در جزء CEF6 و روی باکتری باسیلوس سوبتیلیس و قارچ کریپتوکوکوس نئوفورمانس (به ترتیب با قطر هاله 4/15 و 1/23 میلی متر) دیده شد. جزء CEF5 اثر مهار کنندگی روی رشد هیچکدام از میکروارگانیسم‌ها نداشت. بیشترین اثرات هم افزایی اجزا، با آنتی‌بیوتیک‌های اریترومایسین و تتراسایکلین با اجزای CEF1، CEF9، CEF10 و CEF11 روی باکتری استافیلوکوکوس اورئوس مقاوم به متی سیلین و باسیلوس سوبتیلیس مشاهده شد. نتیجه گیری: نتایج نشان داد عصاره و اجزای حاصله از گیاه کمای بیابانی خواص ضد قارچی و ضد باکتریی قابل قبولی از خود نشان می‌دهند که می‌توانند به عنوان منبع بالقوه برای ترکیبات جدید ضد باکتری در نظر گرفته شوند

Relationship between Spiritual Experiences and Organizational Commitment with Perceived Stress at the staff of Tehran Oil Hospital

Abstract Introduction: There have been numerous researches carried out in the field of organizational health with the aim of identifying ways to counteract the negative effects of stress. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between spiritual experiences and organizational commitment with the perceived stress of the staff of the Tehran Oil Hospital. Methods: The research population of all Tehran Nursing Hospital nursing staff was stratified randomly based on the formula for determining the sample population in 2017. For data collection, standardized questionnaires were used to measure each variable and the extracted data were analyzed using SPSS 22 software. Results: Statistical analysis of the research data showed that there was a significant relationship between spiritual experiences and its components such as meaningful work, sense of correlation and alignment of values, and the pillars of the organizational commitment such as emotional commitment, continuous commitment and normative commitment with perceived stress at a significant level of P<0.05. According to the results of regression with multivariate correlation coefficient for linear combination of variables of spiritual experiences (work with meaning, sense of correlation and values alignment), organizational commitment and perceived stress were equal to MR =35.70and RS =0.19,Which is significant at P<0.0001. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the spiritual experiences of employees have a positive and significant relationship with organizational commitment and reducing perceived stress. In other words, those with high spirituality feel less stress and more organizational commitment

Halotolerant Ability and α-Amylase Activity of Some Saltwater Fungal Isolates

Four halotolerant fungal isolates originating from the saltwater Lake Urmia in Iran were selected during a screening program for salt resistance and α-amylase activity. The isolates were identified based on sequencing the ITS region and a part of the β-tubulin gene, as Penicillium chrysogenum (isolate U1; CBS 132820), Fusarium incarnatum (isolate U2; CBS 132821), and Penicillium polonicum (isolate U3; CBS 132822, and isolate U4; CBS 132823). The growth of these isolates was determined by measuring the colony diameter and mycelia dry weight in Sabouraud dextrose agar and yeast nitrogen base medium supplemented with NaCl, KCl, and LiCl. Isolate U4 showed a growth up in 15% NaCl and U1 was the only isolate that could grow in 20% KCl. None of the strains grew in a media containing LiCl. The salt supplemented medium did not increase the size of colony diameter in all isolates (p > 0.05). The ability of the selected isolates for amylase production was quantitatively tested and showed that P. polonicum isolate U4 was the most potent producer of amylase with a yield of 260.9 U/L after 60 h, whereas P. polonicum isolate U3 was the lowest one with a production level of 97.9 U/L after 48 h. P. polonicum isolate U4 could be a suitable candidate for production of amylase on an industrial scale after optimization. © 2013 by School of Pharmacy

Evaluation of Methyl Red and Lactate as a Mediator and a Simple Carbon Source on Electrochemical Performance of Urmia lake Sediment Microbial Fuel Cell

Introduction: The energy crisis is an urgent issue due to the increased consumption of fossil fuels. Therefor alternative energy sources are, of critical importance. Sediment Microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) are more important among other renewable energy sources in which chemical energy in organic compounds is converted to electrical energy due to proper bacteria (exoelectrogens) catalytic activity. Materials and methods: In this study, one liter glassy reactor was used, half of it was filled with Urmia lake sediment, where microbial consortium are present, as anodic part and upper half was filled with lake water as cathodic part. Copper wires attached to graphite electrodes 4×4 cm² (choice electrode) and via an external resistance 2/2 kΩ two sections related to each other. Electrochemical performance was evaluated by a digital voltimeter. The effectiveness of methyl red as mediator and lactate after determination of optimum concentration which is added every 15 days was evaluated. All fuel cells were studied for over 45 days of experiment. Results: The results demonstrated the mediator SMFC with power density of 7/54 mW/m² has a distinct difference with mediator-less SMFC with power density of 0.46 mW/m². The recorded power density of SMFC with lactate and mediator was 4/44 ± 1/44 mW/m². Discussion and conclusion: Sediment microbial consortia degrade available organic compounds and transfer to the anode electrode by using synthetic mediators. The results showed, in addition to external synthetic mediator, methyl red increases fuel cell electrochemical performance. While it was expected that fuel cell performs well in the presence of mediator and external carbon source, we witnessed better electrochemical performance in the absence of lactate

Design of Phage-Cocktail–Containing Hydrogel for the Treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa–Infected Wounds

Recently, the treatment of infected wounds has become a global problem due to increased antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is often present in chronic skin infections, and it has become a threat to public health as it is increasingly multidrug resistant. Due to this, new measures to enable treatment of infections are necessary. Treatment of bacterial infections with bacteriophages, known as phage therapy, has been in use for a century, and has potential with its antimicrobial effect. The main purpose of this study was to create a phage-containing wound dressing with the ability to prevent bacterial infection and rapid wound healing without side effects. Several phages against P. aeruginosa were isolated from wastewater, and two polyvalent phages were used to prepare a phage cocktail. The phage cocktail was loaded in a hydrogel composed of polymers of sodium alginate (SA) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). To compare the antimicrobial effects, hydrogels containing phages, ciprofloxacin, or phages plus ciprofloxacin were produced, and hydrogels without either. The antimicrobial effect of these hydrogels was investigated in vitro and in vivo using an experimental mouse wound infection model. The wound-healing process in different mouse groups showed that phage-containing hydrogels and antibiotic-containing hydrogels have almost the same antimicrobial effect. However, in terms of wound healing and pathological process, the phage-containing hydrogels performed better than the antibiotic alone. The best performance was achieved with the phage–antibiotic hydrogel, indicating a synergistic effect between the phage cocktail and the antibiotic. In conclusion, phage-containing hydrogels eliminate efficiently P. aeruginosa in wounds and may be a proper option for treating infectious wounds

A comparative analytical assay of gene regulatory networks inferred using microarray and RNA-seq datasets

A Gene Regulatory Network (GRN) is a collection of interactions between molecular regulators and their targets in cells governing gene expression level. Omics data explosion generated from high-throughput genomic assays such as microarray and RNA-Seq technologies and the emergence of a number of pre-processing methods demands suitable guidelines to determine the impact of transcript data platforms and normalization procedures on describing associations in GRNs. In this study exploiting publically available microarray and RNA-Seq datasets and a gold standard of transcriptional interactions in Arabidopsis, we performed a comparison between six GRNs derived by RNA-Seq and microarray data and different normalization procedures. As a result we observed that compared algorithms were highly data-specific and Networks reconstructed by RNA-Seq data revealed a considerable accuracy against corresponding networks captured by microarrays. Topological analysis showed that GRNs inferred from two platforms were similar in several of topological features although we observed more connectivity in RNA-Seq derived genes network. Taken together transcriptional regulatory networks obtained by Robust Multiarray Averaging (RMA) and Variance-Stabilizing Transformed (VST) normalized data demonstrated predicting higher rate of true edges over the rest of methods used in this comparison

Design, synthesis and evaluation of biological activities of some novel anti-TB agents with bio-reducible functional group

Introduction: With regard to the anti-mycobacterial activity of 2-pyrazinoic acid esters (POEs), recent studies have shown that both pyrazine core and alkyl part of POE interact with the fatty acid synthase type (I) (FAS (I)) precluding a complex formation between NADPH and FAS (I). Methods: Considering this interaction at the reductase site of FAS (I) responsible for reduction of β-ketoacyl-CoA to β-hydroxyacyl-CoA, we hypothesized that POE containing a bioreducible center in its alkyl part might show an increased anti-tubercular activity due to the involvement of FAS (I) in extra bio-reduction reaction. Thus, we synthesized novel POEs, confirmed their structures by spectral data, and subsequently evaluated their anti-mycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) (H37Rv) strain at 10 μg/mL concentration. Results: Compounds 3c, 3j, and 3m showed higher activity with regard to the inhibition of Mtb growth by 45.4, 45.7, and 51.2% respectively. Unexpectedly, the maltol derived POE 3l having the lowest log p value among the POEs indicated the highest anti-mycobacterial growth activity with 56% prevention. Compounds 3c and 3l showed no remarkable cytotoxicity on human macrophages at 10 μg/mL concentration as analyzed by xCELLigence real-time cell analysis. In further experiments, some of the tested POEs, unlike pyrazinamide (PZA), exhibited significant antibacterial and also anti-fungal activities. POEs showed an enhanced bactericidal activity on gram-positive bacteria as shown for Staphylococcus aureus, e.g. compound 3b with a MIC value of 125 μg/mL but not E. coli as a gram-negative bacteria, except for maltol derived POE (3l) that showed an inverse activity in the susceptibility test. In the anticancer activity test against the human leukemia K562 cell lines using MTT assay, compounds 3e and 3j showed the highest cytotoxic effect with IC50 values of 25±8.0 μΜ and 25±5.0 μΜ, respectively. Conclusion: It was found that the majority of POEs containing a bioreducible center showed higher inhibitory activities on Mtb growth when compared to the similar compounds without a bio-reducible functional group